A Twisted Plot
by blitzkingful
Summary: After what happened in Dragon Games, Raven Queen has serious trust issues towards pratically everyone at school. Things have to change for good, or else not even Raven's legendary compassion will be enough to properly move on.
1. Prologue

**Female Narrator:** With the help of her friends, Apple was able to right the wrong of freeing the Evil Queen.

 **Brooke Paige:** And as for Raven and her mother? Lllllet's just say their relationship is still… heh heh… complicated.

…

 **New Narrator:** No no no, stop it, stop the story!… Seriously … That's it?!

 **Male Narrator:** Uh? Another Narrator? Nobody told us another voice was authorized…

 **N.N.:** Yeah, well, clearly they should have! Do you really end it there? After everything you left behind?!

 **F.N.:** Young man, are you trying to teaching us our own job?

 **M.N.:** Yeah, right! Every Narrator worthy of this name knows that not everything in a story can nor must be explained!

 **N.N.:** But you essentially showed everything it does NOT work at Ever After High, you didn't explore it and now you hid it under a rug! Does this look like a satisfying ending to you?!

 **B.P.:** Hey, he's right!

 **M.N. & F.N.: **Brooke!

 **B.P.:** Mom, dad, sorry but this time narration hadn't been very… comfortable. Raven's been through really too much, and all the guilty parts got away scott free.

 **N.N.:** Oh, you totally got the point!

 **M.N.:** It's not up to us to judge a story. We just have to tell it.

 **N.N.:** But it's up to us to tell it FOR GOOD! So, let's continue from where Dragon Games ended and see what exactly are the consequences!

 **B.P.:** Oh, I can't wait!

 **F.N.:** Sure, have fun, as long it's me and your father who have to deal with the man upstairs…

 **N.N.:** Now, we left Raven during her visit to her mother…

 _First little piece of a saga in which I'll ry to wrap up as many issues left behind in EAH possible. Hope you like it. It'll take a while for actual chapters because they're long and I have to translate them from italian to english…_


	2. Ep1 - Raven rebels for good

Raven was genuinely sure she could have turn the page this once too.  
After all, she shouldn't have been too much surprised that Headmaster Grimm bowed his head to Snow White's request (order) about ignoring her daughter's big mistake (as well as the ones of Snow herself): in Ever After, biased treatments like that were everyday life stuff. Especially for those, like her, who went against traditions.  
And yet, while leaving her mother (who still lived in her own world, both metaphorically and literally) and heading towards the Dragon Games arena, the young Queen was far from being serene.

-/-

Raven surprised herself, when, in the arena, seeing Apple greeting her with a carefree smile, ended to think that the princess had really some nerve to act like everything was magically fixed again. What happened in the last week kept appearing in the witch's mind, endlessly. A mood that didn't help her performance in the game.  
Raven kept to make Nevermore flying around, unable to focus on a specific target. Her mind was clouded, and Apple's team had the lead of the game, much to the public's joy. But when Braebyrn fled right in front of her, having a glimpse of Apple, something snapped in the witch's head and she urged her dragon to the chase. Thanks to the force of desperation, rather than actual skills, Raven managed to intercept the blonde princess, catching a handful of gems which was the original goal of her opponent. A series of _boo_ s erupted from the public: clearly they didn't like that the _villain_ dared to catch up.  
Audience's hostility didn't help Raven, who was going to abandon the game once again. But Darling Charming, member of her team, managed to pass the ball, waking up Raven from her confusion. For a moment.  
With the ball in her hands, riding Nevermore and with Apple right in front of her, Raven remembered when, during the opening match, Snow White's daughter deliberately hurt Darling and then tried to provoke her so that Raven could snap into the villain of her tale. Suddenly feeling herself empty, Raven threw away the ball, catched by Lizzie Hearts, member of Apple's team.  
They won in the end.

-/-

Raven didn't stay for the awarding ceremony.  
At first, she had forced herself to not go away, in the name of sportivness, but when the Headmaster started to praise again and again White family, for _the bright example they were for the good guys of the entire kingdom_ , something inside her just broke. A purple puff of magic and she was gone.  
Apple had noticed, during the game, that something was wrong, and she would have been happy to find the witch to see what was happening, but Blondie Lockes reached her asking for an interview.  
Stucked once again in her Royal PR duties, she forgot about her roommate.

-/-

Far far way from the school building, leaning on the banister of a bridge in Book End suburbs, Raven tried without succeeding to fight anger and bad thoughts which kept dominating her mind.  
It was weird, in the worst way possible: Raven never had been the type of person who holds a grudge, especially because she knew too well how it feels when the entire world is against you. This time, however, she couldn't help wishing the worst for everyone at school.  
Ok, no one listened to her about letting her mother free, and even her friends helped her only when the damage was already done… the Evil Queen was still completely crazy and, despite her continuing to state otherwise, totally indifferent to her own daughter's feelings… and, yes, she would have never expected Apple to act like that, and even the rest of the students, at the first sign of problems, returned to hate her pretty quickly…  
But, really, thinking about it, Raven dealt with this kind of experiences pratically since her birth! What was different, this time?

-/-

"Excuse me" someone suddenly murmured behind the girl, "are you Raven Queen, by any chance?" Interrupted her thinking, Raven turned to see a boy, apparently around her same age, with golden eyes and dark hair combed in a ponytail long enough to reach his waist. Judging by his clothing, it had to be a commoner, with a simple life and certainly without any Destiny or similar drags. "And you are…?" Raven asked, not too gently. Her mood persisted in to not getting better.  
"Oh! Yo-you're right, sorry!..." the young boy stammered, embarassed, then he bowed slightly with his head "Hiram Patchfield, nice to meet you. I'm just a farmer who came here in Book End to buy some stuff, and, hum, I just wanted to take the chance to thank you."  
Raven widened her eyes. The initial shock was replaced by a slight sense of satisfaction, since that someone for once approved her actions, but… "Thank me for… what, exactly?"  
"For all the Dragon Games matter. You know, going against the Evil Queen, imprisoning her in the mirror again… You saved everyone. Thank you." He ended, solemnly. Raven blushed. She was very little used to positive feedback, especially when it was about her behaving good. Hiram frowned: "It must have been difficult. She was your mother, after all." was his insecure comment.  
Raven smiled sadly "I gave up long time ago in having a decent relationship with that woman." She explained. _Then why I still go to talk to her?!_ Asked to herself. Before she could reason on that question Hiram returned to talk: "Sorry. I didn't want to ruin your day, Raven… may I call you by name?... Thanks. I just wanted you to know how much it means for a humble subject that at least one who sit on a throne has a brain under the crown."  
"What do you mean?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow. Hiram leaned to the banister, tilting his head towards Raven "I mean, other people didn't do exactly brilliant… Grimm, your teachers, your schoolmates… they even accused you for setting fire to the arena, totally randomly… They woke up just at the last moment. Tch! Even Snow White, our queen, the one who should protect every living being under her leadership… just let your mom free for her own reason. And her daughter? She confessed she was the one who broke the mirror-prison. And in the end, both of them never payed for what happened. Heavens forbid if the fairest ones have to be called out." Hiram Patchfield wasn't wrong.  
Raven thought about it really much, right some moment ago. She would have wanted to defend Apple, but it was pointless. There were no justifications. Neither for Snow White, nor for Apple nor for anyone at Ever After High and surroundings.  
All the pain caused by that story had messed up her heart and brain, but… now there was someone who shared her opinion, and by talking with him the young witch had been able to clear up her thoughts. And to voice them: "It's ridiculous." She murmured. Hiram kept watching her. "After everything I demonstrated, everything we've been through together… it still takes very little to return to page one."  
"It's hard to change your mind when you have the same ideas for generations, I guess" Hiram stated "It still does not justifies all the mess."  
"You know" Raven commented "You clearly know a lot. Usually, commoners question traditions even less than the Royals. No offense…"  
"None taken, it's true. I'm different because my parents were different. They must have found out something when they were younger, 'cause they never bought Snow White's pretty maiden act. And about other fairytale characters? They didn't have a better opinion. Hex, they didn't even like to tell me those fables for my bedtime!"  
"Really?" Raven was surprised.  
"Yup. Mom always told that they weren't able to teach anything anymore. And dad preferred to tell me different stories, written in distant lands, where, he said, they still had a sense." A brief pause "I remember one, especially" the young countryman then said " _The Kind Moose_ , or something like that."  
"What was about?" Raven asked, interested  
"About a kind moose, obviously. Too much kind, I dare to say."  
Raven was eager to listen that fairytale.  
Hiram was eager to tell it.

-/-

"It starts with a little bug who asks to the moose to ride on his antlers. The moose, gladly, grants the request, but the bug takes advantage of that and starts to invite other animals. Who invite other animals. Bigger and bigger ones, needless to say. The moose'd want to make them acknowledge that the situation is now very umcomfortable for him, that with all that load is difficult for him to even move, and that his "room mates" could be less loud, especially now that humans' hunting season is about to begin. But those ungrateful twerps don't listen to him and they even call him selfish for thinking to his own good, even if he has any right to do so."  
Raven strangely felt like she already knew that tale.  
"Things go down quickly: human hunters appears and, seeing the moose, foretaste a brand new trophy. The poor animal runs as fast as he can, with that drag on the antlers, who even have the nerve of complaining because with all the bumps they can't get comfy. But what the moose should do, stay still and being captured?"  
"Of course not!" Raven agreed.  
Hiram continued: "Somehow, the moose manages to escape and reaches a lake. It would take just crossing it and he would be outside the hunting zone! Buuut the idiots in the antlers forbid it, 'cause they don't want to get wet. On the other hand, the hunters approach." Hiram did a dramatic pause "At this point, exasperated, the moose heavily shakes his head and the antlers, as long as the unpleasant guests, detache. Unburdened, the moose cross the river and saves his life. Happy ending."

-/-

"Wow." Raven commented, impressed. She had a doubt, though: "Wait, what about the animals on the antlers?"  
"Does it really matter?"Hiram answered back "They took advantage of the moose and it would have been the end for him. Why being worried about them?" finished, with a suddenly harsh tone. "Anyway" he then announced, melanchonic "I must go now. Sorry if I disturbed you for so long. Goodbye."  
"Goodbye." Raven managed to say. The girl stayed on the bridge, staring at the horizon. Hiram Patchfield, far far away from Book End, took a look on his right hand. It was quickly coloring grey, and in the position of the veins, a pale green luminescence started to grow. "Just in time." He commented, looking up and… "Cut to the next scene, now." Uh… ok…

-/-

 **B.P.:** Eh?! Hiram can hear us?! Like Maddie and Kitty…! I thought he was from Snow White's kingdom, not from Wonderland…

 **N.N.:** Right… that's weird… but interesting. See? It was worthwhile to explore this story deeper, wasn't it?

 **F.N.:** Are you realizing you two could have just made another mess?

 **M.N.:** Too late anyway…

-/-

Raven heard a sugarcoated voice calling her, and she turned to see Apple, still wearing her Dragon Games gears, running towards her. The bad mood of some time ago returned. "Apple." She grumbled.  
"Raven! There you are! Is everything OK?" Raven nodded, apathetic. "You disappeared so suddenly after the match… I looked for you everywhere!"  
"Right after your exhibition in front of the camera, right?."  
"Oh, hum, you know how it works…"  
"Yeah, I know it _too much well_."  
"Come on, don't be mad, you'll be luckier next time..."  
"Hope that your fans don't get mad, then."  
"Raven, are you sure you're OK?"  
"Like you'd care."  
"What?"  
"Nothing."

-/-

 **B.P.:** Now we have all the part with Crystal Winter…

 **N.N.:** Don't care. Keep the focus on Raven.

-/-

The so-called _Epic Winter_ just made Raven's mood even worse.  
First, she had to bring her mother (inside the mirror) to some conference… she didn't even understand about what. Bring her, like it was nothing, like she was a totally normal parent and not a crazy criminal that not too much time ago threatened the entire realm and messed up her daughter's life. For the nth time. Then, when the father of a certain Crystal Winter froze the school, everyone demanded Nevermore's fire to warm them. They thanked her, yes, but that didn't help a bit. _You're willing to believe I'm good, when you need something_ the young witch thought.  
Raven was ready to bet that, hadn't the Snow King went mad in front of everyone, she would have took the blame for the magic blizzard. Actually, someone made similar comment once they found out that all the chaos was born due to the shards of the Evil Queen's mirror prison.  
A mirror shattered by Apple White, but no one pointed that out. Of course.  
That didn't make Raven too much willing to listen to Apple about not having anymore a prince for her fairytale. She let her talkig, without really listening, hoping that could finish quickly and asking to herself for how long could have still go on in that school.

-/-

Hadn't Maddie and the others reminded it, Raven would have forgot to go to visit her mother. To think that, some time ago, she would have shivered at the idea...  
Entered in the Headmaster's office, she went near the man to sign the register as usual. Milton Grimm, once again, was going to warn her not to touch the mirror.  
"It's not to me you have to tell it." Raven interrupted him, gritting her teeth. Even if he understood the allusion , the man preferred to act like nothing had happened. Looking away from the girl's cold stare, he told her to hurry up and opened the secret door.  
Raven climbed the stairs for the basement with even less enthusiasm compared to past times. She knew exactly what would have been the topico f conversation with her mother, the same topic she always talked about, apparently the only one thing she cared about and that, in her delusional state, thought was interesting to her daughter too, no matter how many times Raven tried to make her understand it wasn't. Arrived in the room, dusty and isolated from the rest of the building, she placed herself in front of the mirror, said a half-hearted greeting and magically on the glassy surface the image of the Evil Queen appeared. "Raven! My child!" the woman said, with sweet but malicious voice. "It's been a while since your last visit!"  
"Hm-mmm." Raven answered, without even trying.  
Her mother noticed the low interest: "What's wrong, birdie?"  
"Take a wild guess." The girl talked back, emotionless. She didn't give any detail, she knew it would have been useless. It was _always_ useless.  
"It's for the last match, huh? I know 'good guys' can be unsufferable…!" the Queen stated. Raven rolled her eyes. It had been months since that dragonsport match that, whenever someone noticed Raven's bad mood, immediately connected it to her loss in the game.  
"Let me guess: you're conjuring some absurd plot to hijack my opponents next time?" she asked then,interrupting her mother's gloating.  
"Huh, well, I… why are you interested?!" the woman asked, surprised and creepily enthusiastic.  
"Gotta go." Raven blurted, going backward and rapidly reaching the stairs.  
"He-hey! You're just arrived…!" her mother stuttered, watching powerless the closing door. "Raven…?" was the insecure murmuring of the Evil Queen, in the silence of the room.

-/-

"Hey Mr. Narrator, lately Raven has been, well, way less wonderlandiful. She talks less and less with the others, especially with the Royals. And even to me, Cedar and Cerise, she says very little… I get that she didn't like what happened when her mom escaped, but…"  
Look, Maddie, I'm sorry but I'm afraid that this time the ending won't be that simple… Raven's issues have very deep and old roots, and what happened in the last period is just… oh, there she is. I'm really sorry, Madeline. Have faith. Believe me, you'll need it.  
"G-got it…"  
Everyone was very surprised to see Raven getting out from the tower so soon. Usually, the meetings with her mother never lasted less than fifteen minutes.  
Raven ignored her peers' stares. Blondie tried to intercept her, curious for the atypical attitude, for an interview. The only result she got was seeing her MagicPad incinerated by a purple lightning.  
This could have made the others thinking she was going to become evil, but Raven didn't care anymore.  
Right in that moment she cared only for going into her room and lay on the bed to take a nap.

-/-

Reached her destination, Raven grabbed the door's knob, hoping that Apple wasn't inside the room. She was.  
Opening the door, she heard Apple's murmuring:: "…I dunno if that will be possible…" Raven, suspecting something, took a peek from behind the slightly opened door and saw her roommate talking at her magicphone. The witch had an unpleasant dejavu. Apple kept talking: "I know very well what my duties are, mom, I assure you…"  
At that point Raven loudly opened the door, announcing her presence. Apple turned hereslf, terrified, while Raven just went near her bed, with an empty stare. "R-Raven! Yo-you came back soon!… " the blonde princess blabbered, brusquely hanging up. "Just in time, I'd say." The young witch talked back, gathering something behind her bed "How's Snow White?" she asked then, with a knowing tone.  
Apple looked away "Uh… she's fine. She called me to…"  
"… suggest you a way to make me evil."  
"Raven, I…"  
"That's enough." Raven cutted her off, her voice becoming more and more exasperated "Everytime we go back to the beginning. And I'm too tired to keep going on. With you, with my mother, with the headmaster… with everyone around here." She got back up again, a bag on her shoulders. Apple was horrified: "Raven, wha…?!"  
"At this point, it's clear that I won't find my Happily Ever After here. And I'm going to find it, wheter all of you like it or not."  
Apple was devasted: "P-please, let's talk about it…"  
"So that you can convince me I'm the one in the wrong? No, thanks." Raven was about to exit from the room, but Snow White's daughter ran in front of her: "Yo-you can't go away like it was nothing!"she sobbed.  
Raven clenched her eyelids: "I can't?" she growled, raising her voice "After everything everyone put me through, after that nothing of what we've experienced together was able to teach anything, after **you** backstabbed me, how do you think I could even just looking people here in the face?!"  
Apple widened her eyes: "R-Raven… I-I thought we'd already solved that matter…"  
"Sure you did. Very convenient for your coscience, isn't it?"  
Apple busted into tears: "You are unfair! If I had been so angry about Legacy Day…"  
Raven didn't let her finish. A wave of her hand and a purple cloud covered her, teleporting her to the nearest magic dwell.  
"I'll always be the villain to them, in a way or another." She thought, typing a message on her magicphone "In that case, I'd rather be that where I can live peacefully".

-/-

Not too far from there, hidden among the woods, a strange figure watched Raven Queen entering in the dwell which would have magically transported somewhere else. A pleased grin appeared on his pale grey face, enlightened by a sinister green light from his eyes.  
"About time." He murmured "The boys wouldn't have waited any longer."


	3. Ep2 - Broken crowns

The news of Raven Queen's escape from school had spread like an oil stain throughout the realm of Ever After, reaching the ears of Snow White herself.  
The Fairest Of Them All did not take it well, at all.  
It had been frustrating enough falling into the trap of her archnemesis like a three year old toddler (sure, she had made sure to cover it, but still...) and now her daughter too dared to stomp on her feet, finally determined to fully evade her duties regarding fairytales and Destiny.  
Snow thought that, despite her rebellious tendencies, Raven totally followed her mother's footsteps, when it was about driving anyone around her crazy. But the ebony-haired queen would have not allowed a troubled girl to overthrow the sacred traditions on which her entire bloodline relied since ancient times. She would've found her, no matter where she was hiding, and she would've made sure herself that the witch brat could become Apple's nemesis.  
She immediately seeked in the most obvious place: Raven's home. She expected for the fugitive to seek shelter in a familiar place, but, as the dwarf detectives told her once they came back from Queen Castle, there were only the Good King, a couple of orc butlers and several goblin guards. The King had stated that his daughter hadn't showed up around there, and since that man was known for his honesty (being Good with capital G), the dwarves believed him, and so did Snow White.  
Aside from Raven Queen's birthplace, unfortunately, it quickly turned out to be difficult to figure out where she was. And as the days passed, bringing Raven back became less and less probable. She didn't know that much about that girl, after all.  
Maybe she should have done more researches, not just about her popularity at school.

-/-

 **B.P.:** On the other hand, we can find it now!

 **N.N.:** Benefits of being one thing with the story ...

 **B.P.:** ... Found her! Oh! The irony! She 's hiding in a village not too far from Queen Castle!

 **N.N.:** You know what they say, the best hiding place is the one in plain view!

-/-

Raven sat on a bench of the village's little park, sighing.  
She greatly appreciated Cook's hospitality, although the woman had said that there was no problem whatsoever; after all, with her work, most of the time she was at the castle, leaving the lodge abandoned. Raven, however, was grateful, and sometimes she felt guilty for taking advantage of Cook. Besides, in the end she had accepted the offer only when they had pointed out that very few people, outside of those territories, knew about the existence of that village, thus it was the best place to seek refuge. However, she was much more relaxed now, and she wanted to enjoy that quiet as much as possible.  
She heard someone behind her clearing the voice, and, looking behind, she saw a little man with a white receding hairline, with a gentle smile and a sweet look in his eyes. "Dad!" The girl lit up, getting up and getting close to the Good King "I didn't expect you today!"  
The King, who was wearing rather informal clothes for his position (he did not even have the crown), approached his daughter, digging into one of his pockets "I talked to your mom this morning," he began.  
"Oh," Raven said, suddenly bitter.  
"She came to know that you left school and ... well, she was very enthusiastic. She said that it was finally time you'd read this..." the man explained, giving her a letter.  
Raven didn't want to take it, and she slightly walked away. "I don't care."  
"Raven, I know what you think, but ..."  
"I stopped tolerating her delusions. I want to live my life in my own way, and if she doesn't understand that, suits herself."  
The Good King frowned: "... and this is how you wanted to live it? In a village that nobody knows and which you cannot leave because otherwise all of the rulers in Ever After would chase after you? " He asked, worried.  
Raven sighed, lowering and shaking his head: "It's better than keep staying at Ever After High."  
"I understand that, believe me," the King kindly replied, "But you had friends there, and you left them behind without a second thought. The thing, I confess, unsettles me a little." The girl hesitated. His father continued: "Would've they listened to you immediately, you could have stopped your mom without problems, okay, but you have to keep in mind that Snow Whi ..."  
"It's not just that, Dad!" Raven interrupted him, tears starting to drop from her left eye. "You know how much I had to go through, due to my Destiny, since I was a kid. During Legacy Day I made my choice and, in the end, I knew it was the right one, but I knew I could not abandon the others. I understood that I had to consider their reasons, their point of view as well. I tried to talk to them, to seek a compromise that would make everyone happy ... all for naught." She paused, leaning on the bench and fighting the impulse to cry "After the Dragon Games, I realized that if I'd remained there, nothing would have never changed. And I don't want to waste my whole life in waiting for others to understand me. I want to live it, even if it is in this tiny village." Raven rubbed her eyes, suppressing her tears. Her father, comprehensive, approached her, taking her hands in his own: "Sorry, I didn't want to ruin your day." The young girl shook her head, trying to smile. The King caressed a cheek of his daughter: "You know what? Let's enjoy this beautiful day for now: walking around, go fishing ... about everything else, we'll talk another time, okay?"  
Raven finally smiled for real: "Okay."

-/-

 **B.P.:** Poor Raven…

 **N.N.:** See? That's exactly what I was talking about back in the prologue.

 **F.N.:** All right, all right, you made your point.

-/-

To say that Raven's escape had shocked Ever After High was an understatement.  
Everyone had noticed how much the young Queen was in a bad mood recently, and when they heard the commotion coming from the room she shared with Apple, they feared for the worst. The first ones to reach the room were Madeline Hatter and Briar Beauty, and they first noticed that only Apple was present. Snow White's daughter, trembling, had told about the short but heated discussion with Raven and how at last her roomie had magically teleported herself away. Blondie Lockes, arrived in the meantime along with the three Charming brothers, had not missed the opportunity to spread the news on MagicNet. Headmaster Grimm, once he came to know, almost got a stroke. Of all the troubles caused by Raven Queen, this was the worst, no doubt. "Should the Archive come to know, we're fired for sure!" He kept repeating to Giles, who instead merely had commented about how this development should have been seen coming.  
Milton however didn't want to listen, and he granted Snow White the permission to conduct investigations and find the young witch. It wasn't a regular procedure, especially for a rules-fanatic like Milton Grimm, but hey, it was Snow White, so, according to the elder Grimm brother, that meant it was okay.  
The younger one, however, had just shaken his head and given up on any attempt to make a discussion, being sure it would've been useless. As usual.  
"He's on his own on this!" Giles Grimm said to himself. He would've gonna kept to doing his job: keeping an eye on the students. Nothing more.

-/-

Apple White closed the door of the room, turning her gaze towards the part that, until a couple of weeks ago, was occupied by Raven.  
No new roommate had been assigned to her, as the Headmaster had declared that they would've find out where the daughter of the Evil Queen was and that everything would've returned to normal.  
But the blonde princess did not believe it would've gone that way.  
Not anymore.  
She knew that by personal experience: after the Evil Queen had been re-mirrored, Apple was so ashamed of the part she had played in the woman's plans to pretend it was all water under the bridge, but deep inside she was very well aware that it wasn't. Raven's last tantrum had confirmed that to her, and she had made her remorse grow even more: a limit had been surpassed, and there was no way to going back.  
Apple believed that she had grown up and matured, after all the adventures she had experienced, and with her also her vision of the world. But, apparently, not enough to avoid freeing the Evil Queen, an unstable and genuinely criminal woman, so that she could brainwash her own daughter so that she could become wicked ... what was she thinking at that moment, again?! What made her think that unleashing _The Greatest Evil Ever After Has Ever Known_ would have been a good idea ?! And why did she still want Raven becoming the villain of their fairytale? Hadn't she decided that the Storybook of Legends had to be destroyed, because she'd understood the value of free choice?  
Back when things were more simple, any doubt would have been thrown away easily by shaking her head and smiling, but today that had stopped working. Now she felt a deep anguish, which it wouldn't have disappeared anytime soon, because she realized her huge mistake made her lose a fableous friend.  
The girl stopped her mourning, hearing a loud and angry chattering from outside. Looking out of the window, she discovered, much to her horror, many of her peers in the schoolyard, quarreling furiously among themselves.

-/-

Arguing between students, since they had divided themselves in Royals and Rebels, had always been a daily routine.  
Even after the destruction of the Storybook of Legends, which had officially put an end to the conflict, some clash of opinions still took place. It was only natural, of course.  
But this time it wasn't just a confrontation of ideals: the disappearence of Raven Queen had left a heavy mark, and Ever After High students had split up again, driven by rage. It was like the first times after that fateful Legacy Day, only that today the tension was, if possible, even worse.  
They had angrily discussed for a long time, in the previous days, about why in the end Raven had decided to abandon the school so abruptly. Those who never really liked the young witch, the most traditional Royal students, claimed that the Rebel leader had decided to follow her mother's criminal footsteps and had fully betrayed Ever After. Those who were closer to Raven, like Cedar Wood, Madeline Hatter, and Cerise Hood, had defended her, remorseful for not having noticed that something was wrong with their friend. They'd claimed that Ever After had betrayed, all of them had betrayed Raven's trust, a trust the witch had in spite of what she had to endure since childhood.  
"We all knew very well what the Evil Queen was capable of," Cerise had accused, "and yet you have ... we left her out, without a leash, let her to play in the Arena as if it was nothing."  
And it had gone on and on, between the accusations of the 'new' Rebels and those of the 'new' Royals. They didn't solve anything and everyone just got more and more nervous, and today it didn't seem to be an exception.  
For an unlucky coincidence (or perhaps it was intentional, and in that case it was even scarier) most of the supporters of both factions had found themselves in the same place. The usual harsh words, the usual recriminations, the usual insults... until Faybelle Thorn had spoke.  
It should be remembered that Faybelle's situation was very fragile, and only the presence of Raven Queen had always diverted the general attention from the fairy. Now Raven was gone, and it was enough to remind everyone of the part that Faybelle had played in recent events: "This is just another time when Raven Queen embarrasses the villains of the whole realm! " Many of the people there stared at her like their stare could've incinerated her, then unexpectedly, of all the people who could've called her out, it was ... Duchess Swan.  
"Shut your mouth you!" She had growled the swan princess, approaching the fairy with her usual scornful behaviour: "It's thanks to you if we nearly went _poof_. For real. TWICE!"  
Faybelle stayed silent. For a couple of seconds. "Hey, Featherbrain, what's wrong? I thought we were on the same page!" she replied, trying to play safe.  
Duchess didn't lose ground: "Yeah, well, not after I found out I'm **not** as crazy and out of control as you!"  
"Pfft! I was just following my villainous Destiny!" Faybelle snorted, gaining a lot of approving nods from the most thick-headed Royals.  
"Oooooh no, don't you think to get away so easily! " Duchess blurted, with several Rebels coming alongside her: "What you have done has nothing to do with your fairytale, and you know it! Cleaning the school? You should have been locked up like Raven's mother!"  
At that last accusation, every chance of a civil discussion completely faded.

-/-

Courtly Jester watched, from a short distance, the commotion that had took place there in the schoolyard. With a bored stare. Bizarre, for someone who is jolly even in name.  
Actually, that was her basic expression since she was attending to Ever After High.  
Granted, during the first days, she'd found it way more intriguing. Better than the jail, no doubt. The novelty effect had ended quickly, however: ignored, set aside, and in the rare moments when she was considered, it never was anything pleasant. Nothing too gratifying, in short.  
 _Blame yourself, you tried to steal the throne from Lizzie Hearts_ , someone could have told her. And maybe they would have been right, about the current situation. But even before attempting a coup d'etat in Wonderland, she wasn't treated better, and at that time she really did not have any fault!  
It was something she had never understood, actually. She had asked to her father an explanation, and all he had been able to tell her was that some card games didn't need the jolly. It wasn't just a meaningless situation, which was very common there, it was _unfair_.  
Courtly had tried with all her willpower to prove her value, but not even becoming Wonderland High's principal/viceprincipal/students' body president had changed other people's mind. She was a jolly, and as such she was good only to make them laugh.  
Was it really so surprising that at that point she had gone crazy and wanted to take the place of a shouting fool who had the unconditional love and loyalty of the whole kingdom?  
The main reason Courtly didn't like Ever After was exactly this: nothing had changed from Wonderland. No matter how hard she tried, no one would've ever appreciate her.

-/-

"Such a heartbreaking story," a voice said. Courtly gasped, taken away from her thinking.  
Almost without realizing it, she had walked away from the mob, not in the mood to _enjoy the show_ , as Kitty Cheshire would've put it. She didn't even have a precise destination, and looking around she noticed that ...  
"We are near the Book End's playground, okay? Can I talk, thank you very much?"  
Uh ... okaaaaay ... from the roof of a house came down, landing perfectly on his feet, the gray-skinned guy with glowing green veins that...  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm the lad who at the end of the previous chapter watched Raven leaving the school. It's my turn to talk, yes or no?!"

...

"Good. First of all, good morning, Courtly Jester. I guess you're confused about who I am and what I'm going to do here and a lot of other things ... I won't waste time: the name's Hiram, and I know everything about you. I know what you had to suffer in your life. I know why you wanted to steal Lizzie Hearts' Destiny. How do I know all these things? Let's say I read a lot. Know that I understand you perfectly: much like you I had to endure similar vicissitudes, and you know who are the guilty ones? Fairytale characters. Those who believe that their stories are more important than the others just because theirs are written in books. We are ignored and we are forced to be put in the dust, for this idiotic reason. Well, know that I'm going to change that. I've already collected many allies, and your contribution would be more than welcomed. I can assure you that you'll finally get the respect you wish and deserve."  
"... What should I do?"  
"I'm glad you accepted. The point is this: I'm pretty able with magic, but not even I could do much against all of the spellcasters in Ever After High, and that is our ultimate target. We must remove its thoughest guardians from the equation. And since you're already inside the school..."  
"Ok, I got it, but how do you think I of all people can accomplish such a mission?!"  
"All you have to do is stealing Milton Grimm's mirror-shaped ring. At that point, you will simply recite the spell contained on this parchment. And before you ask how you could get into the Headmaster's office... do you remember this?"  
"T-that card...!"  
"Yeah, that's the same one you used to break in the Queen of Hearts' birthday... Just a tip: now that the Evil Queen's grimoire has been assimilated by Raven, the card still has enough magic only for one more use, so be careful! "  
"You are really well informed..."  
"I told you, I read a lot."

-/-

 **N.N.:** I'm starting to be afraid.

 **B.P.:** Me too! He practically excluded us from the narration! But how does he do it?!

 **N.N.:** Quick, while he's still talking to Courtly! Let's start a flashback and find out who or what Hiram Patchfield exactly is!

 **B.P.:** Flashback activated!

-/-

Hiram Patchfield had told Raven the truth about being originary from Snow White's realm. What he hadn't told her was that he had left when he was still a child.  
It had happened shortly after one of the many raids of the Evil Queen, a few years before cursing Wonderland. Disappeared from one day to another, who knew him had thought he was dead during the siege. And when he had reappeared, one month after the Dragon Games incident, he had changed too much to be recognized.  
He had walked inside the Happy Cider, a modest tavern frequented by many of the land's inhabitants, eager to rest after an entire day of hard work. Asked for a pint of cider, he had said a couple of subtle comments about Snow White's lousy reliability as a monarch. At first, predictably, the customers had reacted hostily, but Hiram had been ready to lampshading the irresponsible behavior of the queen, who almost condemned the whole Ever After a month earlier. Then, to the increasingly weak objections of the villagers, Hiram had pointed out every unfairness that theyhad to suffer from Snow: individual opinions and individual needs were ignored, the patronizing with which the monarch mocked their intelligence, being forced to smiling 24/7.  
He'd made them notice that Snow White was there for them, but only when she could take advantage from it to shill herself. For instance, during the funeral for the young Pepper Pumpkins' uncle, with the excuse to say a few words about the deceased, the queen had intervened with an intentionally endless monologue to get more attention to herself; all abducted by her talking, no one followed the rest of the ceremony with the proper concentration. Pepper hadn't dared to to say anything at the time: it was Snow White, after all. But the boy's voice had given her the courage to react.  
Patchfield had also managed to convince some undercover spy-dwarves in the room to collaborate with him, remembering them the frustration of the fact that both the queen and the princess had never bothered to learn their names, and instead everytime they invented extremely embarrassing nicknames. Hiram had told them to not let their sugary smiles prevent them from being respected.  
Faster than he expected, he had conquered the entire Happy Cider, customers and staff.  
"We are the ones who break our backs to make Ever After propsper" Patchfield said at the end of his speech. "And should we be lead by a bunch of brats who for centuries had believed that to have a succesfull life all it takes is writing their name on a dusty book?" A chorus of noisy "NO!"s filled the entire tavern.  
In the following days, Hiram had been busy in organizing the revolution to defeat Snow White and company, with the collaboration of his new allies, who, thanks to the word of mouth, had grown more and more in number.  
However, many remained puzzled about how much time they had to wait before attacking, even after the plan was ready...  
When they asked him about that, the boy replied: "I had to make sure someone was left out from this story ... she was a victim like and more than us, but if everything is went smooth, there is nothing to worry about anymore."

-/-

 **B.P.:** I can't read anything else, damn it!

 **N.N.:** This doesn't explain much.

 **B.P .:** Except for the fact that he comes from Snow White's kingdom ... which makes even stranger his capability of hearing us ...

 **F.N.:** Speaking of White, did Apple try to stop the quarrel in the schoolyard?

 **M.N.:** I don't know, she was pretty depressed ... let's check!

-/-

Sensed the hostility, Apple White rushed to the schoolyard. Even with all the problems she was facing, she couldn't let her friends beating each other. She just hoped she still had the strength to handle the situation.  
Her good intentions, however, didn't come to realization, because, reached the downstairs, Apple was intercepted by Headmaster Grimm.  
The man, followed by two strange guys, called her with her usual pretentious voice, broken by some anxiety: "Miss White! Here you are! "  
Apple stopped and turned her gaze to the man:"Good morning, Headmaster, sorry but whatever you need, we can talk about it later, I have to ... "  
Milton vigorously shook his head: "Worry not about your schoolmates, I've already disposed for All The King's Horses and All The King's Men to intervene if the tussle should turn for the worst. Rather, I have to report a very important communication to you."  
 _More important than making sure your students don't get hurt ?!_ The princess thought, irritated. It occurred to her that, since previous year's Thronecoming, she no longer respected Milton Grimm as she once upon a time did.  
At that moment the two men who followed the school principal tried to catch the attention of the Grimm. They were very old, judging by the gray long beards, and they were wearing very weird tunics: Apple vaguely remembered to have seen something similar in some book.  
Milton Grimm gave them an impatient gesture with his hand: "Gentlemen, we are quite busy at the moment, and we'll be it for a while. We'll talk later, I'll call you! " He concluded, far from sounding convincing.  
The two elders, understood that they woul've got nothing, left, resigned and irritated.  
Snorting, Grimm turned to Apple again: "Excuse me for the interruption, Your Highness, those two had chased me for the entire day and..."  
"Didn't you want to tell me something?" Apple blurted out, now visibly upset.  
"Oh yes, right! Ahem! ... Given the unsatisfactory results of the search for Raven Queen, Her Majesty Your Mother has decided to discuss with her allies and collaborators by restart investigations from where everything started ... that is, here at Ever After High."  
"So that means... my mother will come here? Again?!"  
"Hexactly."  
Apple sighed, rolling her eyes: "Spelltastic."

* * *

 _ **Sorry for the long wait, I had vacation first and work later, plus I do other stuff so... anyway, hope you liked it!**_

 _ **-Blitz**_


	4. Ep3 - The reckoning

Back at Cook's home, Raven stared at her mother's letter, still closed from the day before. Nevermore approached, worried, rubbing her head against the arm of her mistress, who smiled slightly and caressed the little dragon's head.  
Raven was still angry, but much less than she was a day ago, and this had allowed a hint of curiosity to make its way through her thoughts. What had her mother wrote in that letter? Why now was the right moment for Raven to read it? Was it possible she could find some kind of revelation, something that shed new light on the Evil Queen, that could give a logic explanation about her behavior ...  
"No," Raven Queen firmly said to herself, "I must not to fall for it. I know mother and I know myself. Surely it will be some trick to convince me to come back to her, it is typical of her, she manipulates people for her own gain, even her own daughter. If I read her message, it's likely that she would be able to make me come back. But I swore I wouldn't do it, neither for her ... nor for anyone else." The girl sighed, finally averting her eyes from the letter.  
Her father's words came back to her: _You also had friends there, and you left them behind without thinking twice._ She hadn't wanted to admit it to the Good King, but in the last days, she found herself thinking about the same thing. Was she really angry with Madeline, or Cerise, or Cedar? And Darling? It was annoying that they hadn't listened to her earlier, of course, but when Snow White makes a decision, even the most messed up ones, it is natural to think that she knows what it does. She must have a plan, that's what they probably had thought. When they understood that she didn't, instead of accusing Raven like the rest of the school, in a spell they were already by her side. In short, did they deserve to be left behind so brutally ?!  
Probably not, but ... did she really have the strength to go back and endure everything that she had escaped from? Raven doubted it. Especially after Apple, of all people, had been willing to sell her to the Evil Queen in order to have her Happily Ever After ... of course, in the end she had made the right choice, and, in the first place, all had started from the pressures caused by having a mother like Snow White, but ... was this enough to still trust her?  
Sense of guilt and fear were twisting in her soul, distressing her as much as the anger had tormented her during the last period at Ever After High.  
Raven Queen returned her attention to the letter from the Evil Queen. It was less stressful.

-/-

Apple White walked into the Headmaster's office with an unsettled look.  
After a hurried greeting, Snow White had called a first meeting between her, the Grimm brothers and ... her daughter. When the door closed, all of them settled in the room: Milton on his chair-throne, with Mrs Trollswort by his side; Snow White at the center of the room, therefore of the attention; Giles on the sidelines, clearly disinterested in the what was happening and more concerned about throwing wastepaper in the bin.  
"So, honey," Snow White began, with the usual grace, "I guess there's no need to explain why we're here today, right?" "Does it have to do with finding Raven ...?" Apple asked, alarmed. "Precisely!" Milton intervened, but immediately shutted up by the look of the Fairest of Them All. Once again, the queen returned, with her usual smile, to address her daughter: "As her roommate, you obviously knew Raven Queen better than anyone else. Maybe you could know something and give us some ideas about where she might have went! "  
"Actually, is Maddie, I mean, Madeline Hatter, who knows her very well, she's her best friend."  
"Sssure, but ... um ... you see, it would not be wise to ask to those who are clearly on the side of the fugitive, right? You should know better, dear!"  
Even just her mother's tone had became unsufferable to Apple; "And what makes you believe that I'm on your side in this, mom?!" the blonde princess blurted out instinctively. Snow White widened her eyes, not expecting such an answer from her daughter, the perfect Royal. Apple herself was surprised, but that didn't stop her: "I have no idea where Raven is, and even if I knew it, I would leave her alone! We've already given her enough problems!" Snow White tried to stay calm, but her giggle revealed a certain nervousness: "C-come on, Apple, it's about ... saving our traditions! Our Destinies! Your Destiny! Right, gentlemen?" Milton started to nod eagerly, while Giles just narrowed his eyes, suddenly interested. Apple clenched his fists: "I won't fall for that this time." She replied, stoically.  
Once upon a time, Apple would have never even thought about turning against her mother: the woman who, literally, she wanted to become. Once upon a time, when she didn't know how far she was willing to go to defend her position. The worst part was that Apple herself had lowered herself to those same levels, persuaded by her parent. The only difference was that Apple was ashamed of it.  
 _We are different!_ Apple had realized when Snow White had shown to be interested only in popularity. Now more than ever, it was time to prove that.  
Before Snow White or Milton could reply something, the attention of everyone was attracted by the sudden appearance of Courtly Jester where right some time before was Ms. Trollsworth.

-/-

 **N.N .:** Ok, hold on, we clearly missed something.

 **B.P .:** I rewind a little!

-/-

Snow White's arrival at Ever After High was much more flamboyant and unnecessarily noisy than the last time. Having made know her presence at school since the beginning, unlike when she had reintroduced dragonsports, she had thought it was a "good" idea to entering with style. Red carpet unrolled once out of the limousine, paparazzi from all the most important newspapers wanting to catch a photo of her, the trumpets of his dwarfs valets ... in short, the VIP full package.  
 _It would be smarter to handle these deals silently, instead of shouting about it randomly_ , Courtly Jester had thought, keeping the shapeshifting card between her fingers.  
When the news of the Fairest of Them All throughout Book End and surroundings, Hiram had updated her on the plan, instructing her to get into action exactly when Snow White would have cross the door of Ever After High. She had no idea what he had in mind, but in any case her task hadn't changed. She had already bounded, gagged and hidden Miss Trollsworth, in order to take her place. The plan was to approach the Headmaster and at the first occasion taking Grimm's mirror-ring. He himself would have handed the artifact to the one he would've thought being his secretary: among the many tasks of Trollsworth, there was also the cleaning of the ring.  
Peeping from behind the wall, Courtly saw Milton Grimm running to welcome Snow White. The jokeress passed the card in front of her face and at the same time she stood right in front of the Headmaster. "Ms. Trollsworth!" The man thundered. "Where did you go? Come with me!" Courtly nodded, emotionlessly. Say ... Hadn't she got a little too easily convinced by Hiram's words? A guy who she had just met? She knew first-hand how easy it was to manipulate other people: at Wonderland High she had been able to have the full collaboration of Chase Redford, by relying on his devotion to the rules, and this despite the knight, like everyone else, trusted her very lit ...  
"Aw, to hex with that!" she told herself, shaking her head. She was in the game, she had to play.

-/-

"... but if even Little Miss Perfect can think with her own head, I can't be lesser wise!" Courtly exclaimed, seemingly talking to herself. Before anyone in the room could ask her something, the joker noticed all the eyes on her and cleared her throat: "Ok, I don't know how much time we have... buuuut there's this weird dude who wants your heads and he asked me to take the ring of the headmaster at first it seemed a good idea to me but now I dunno if it's the best thing and in short before thinking about how to punish me I would focus more on how to deal with the psycho who hides himself in the area around Book E... "  
A chill ran throughout the room. Literally: layers of frost, clearly due to some magic, were quickly covering the office's walls, also blocking the door.  
"What a disappointment." Murmured a voice behind everyone, a voice known only to Courtly. Turning around, the jester found herself face to face with his ex-partner, along with a bizarre, very small girl, with light blue skin and white hair, a strange scepter in her hands. A satisfied grin decorated her face, a face the jester was sure she had already seen somewhere.  
"I wanted you to being part of all this, but it's evident that deep down in yourself you can't be anything other than a slave. Jackie, here, I trust won't disappoint me." Hiram said, scornful "Luckily I never leave anything to luck. Or did you think I was exclusively counting on you for this siege?!"  
Courtly realized that the ice was now imprisoning her feet and those of Apple, Snow White and the Grimms. Hiram approached Courtly, who was afraid of being punished on the spot. But the boy just took from her pocket on the skirt the parchment he gave her the day before. How did he know it was there?Who knows. The tiny girl who apparently was named Jackie, on the other hand, had already snatched the mirror-ring from Milton after a brief quarrel with the man. She then handed it to Hiram, who put it on his finger and unrolled the parchment. He smirked at Snow White and Apple, and then commented: "Let's write the conclusion of this tale, once and for all."

-/-

 **F.N.:** Jackie? As Jackie Frost?! Hadn't she been imprisoned along with her brother, after the Epic Winter mess?

 **M.N.:** That's right! But when did Hiram free her?

 **Hiram Patchfield:** Yesterday, while you people were focused on Apple White. It was very easy to sneak into the castle on the Top of the World with my powers, freeing her and convince her to help me with my cause. Especially when I promised her that she would have the power of winter back in her hands, albeit for a while. As for Northwind, I admit it wasn't nice to leave him behind, okay, but Jackie told me that he wouldn't have been very useful and, well, by seeing him, I had to agree...

 **M.N..:** Would you stop interrupting us?!

 **F.N.:** Maddie and Kitty are enough already, thank you very much.

 **H.P.:** My apologies, I exaggerated, it's true. It's kinda a side effect of the powers I obtained. You'll know more later. Now I'll stop, they're giving me strange looks 'cause by their point of view I'm talking to air.

-/-

Ignoring the puzzled stares of Snow White, Apple and the others, Hiram returned to focus on the parchment.  
When he started to reciting the spell, in an incomprehensible language, the greenish veins on the boy's gray skin started to get more and more glowing, until the room was dazzled. Suddenly, with a roaring sound, the light exploded and poured into the ring. Soon after, the mirror on the wall behind the principal's desk lit up in the same green light. To be honest, every single mirror (almost) in the school was lighting up in the same way.  
"Good." Hiram commented, "The whole mirror system is under my control. From here," he continued, approaching to the Headmaster's mirror, behind the throne-chair "I can see in any corner of the school, and even beyond. It's like having thousands of eyes. I can see anywhere, hence localyzing my toughest targets. Jackie!" Upon being called, the little snow girl approached eagerly, unstably holding the scepter, way too big for her tinier hands.  
"Don't. Make. Mistakes." Patchfield firmly warned her. Jackie Frost nodded, grinning. She aimed the scepter towards the reflecting surface and set off a wave of icy wind. The magical cold passed from mirror to mirror, directed towards the targets by Hiram and his magic, channeled through the ring.  
Within a few seconds, Baba Jaga and any other senior magician on duty at Ever After High had been immobilized by a grip of mystical frost.  
Satisfied with the result, Hiram turned to Jackie, snapping his fingers. The scepter levitated away from the girl's grip and, magically, disappeared between the folds of Patchfield's cloak. "Couldn't I keep it a little longer ...?" She implored, under the impassive gaze of the gray-skinned young man, who answered: "I prefer not to take risks. Remember how it ended last time? Now go give the signal to the others." Pouting, Jackie turned into a coquette and flew out of the office window.

-/-

Left alone with his prisoners, Hiram looked at them with spite: "It was waaay too easy." At that moment, several bangs were heard at the door, which, after some time, magically disappeared. "Talked too soon."Patchfield commented, annoyed.  
The three Charming brothers made their triumphal entry into the office: Daring, Dexter and Darling, all armed with the sword. The former was in one of his plastic pose, the second was massaging a shoulder and the third was staring Hiram with determination. Along with them, however, there were also the two old guys whom Apple and Milton Grimm recognized as those who had went after the Headmaster until the day before. By seeing them, Hiram's gaze turned into disappointment. The Charming meanwhile had placed themselves in front of the hostages, to protect them.  
"I met the gentlemen this morning, during my training." Darling started to explain, before noting the shocked look of Milton and Snow White "We'll talk about my un-princess-ness once will be out of danger, okay? Anyway, they warned me about one of their mad students who would have attacked the school ... " " We tried to warn you, Headmaster Grimm, to no avail " one of the mysterious duo intervened, instantly melting the ice that imprisoned principals and Royals with a vortex of golden magic. "So we looked for the nearest paladins." Concluded the other, helping his colleague in the magic of melting.  
"... Congratulations, you managed to get there too late anyway." Hiram growled, poisonous. Darling noticed that the apparition of his ex-mentors had instilled in the lad a certain amount of hesitation. "We want to keep you from making the biggest mistake of your life." One of the said; "You're still in time to stop." the other added. The boy didn't let fooling himself by their imploring tone, and continued to look at them with hostility: "I had already made clear my point. If you don't want to accept it, it's just your problem."

-/-

 **B.P.:** It's our chance to know more!

 **N.N.:** I'm on it!

-/-

Hiram had lied to Raven Queen on one thing: his family.  
The Patchfields weren't any different from any other inhabitant of the Snow White's realm: faithful, adoring, tragically naive about their lady's opportunism. Stephen, his father, worked on the fields, while his mother, Heather, raised the animals. Hiram, along with his sister Samantha, helped both. It was obviously a hard life, but they did not complain. The affection they felt for each other was enough to endure, and even overcome, any adversity given by their social status. They had even had a lot of satisfactions, so much so that theirs had been recognized as the best farm in the area; they were convinced that they were contributing to something greater, a belief occasionally fueled by the many pep talks Snow White gave, whenever she decided to make a tour of her domain.  
Hiram himself dreamed of nothing but continuing his parents' work under the guidance of the Fairest Of Them All, whose he was (like everyone else around there) a great admirer. All in all, it was a life that could have been called happy.  
But it was a happiness built on appearances, and when they broke, they broke the magic.  
And Hiram's heart.

-/-

When the Evil Queen decided to go off the script, she didn't hesitate to attack her nemesis's homeland. Snow White had sensed the danger and ordered the population to remain sheltered at home until the end of the danger.  
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough: the Patchfield farm was one of many to fall under the foot of the Evil Queen's army. Raided everything that was interesting to them, the pack of monsters had set the house on fire, with the Patchfields trapped inside. Stunned by the flames, Hiram reawakened some time later in the middle of the grass, battered but alive. Behind him, the incinerated ruins of his house, collapsed on itself while it was burning.  
There was no one else around there.

-/-

After the Evil Queen retired, Snow White made a huge donation to the country's orphanage, so that it could welcome all the young survivors of that absurd chaos. Hidden himself almost immediately after having get back to his senses, fearing that the dark army could've return, the child learned shortly after about the ceremony in honor of the refurbishment of the shelter house.  
Arrived there, he was about to make the crowd know about his presence, but, looking towards the stage, the blood froze in his veins.  
Something, in the way everyone looked at Snow White, with the other orphans on the sidelines and quite far from the queen, convinced him to move away from that scene as quickly as possible.  
With the speed given to him by fear, Hiram reached the borders of the kingdom at nightfall, and jumped on the first cart who was passing.  
He did so for several times, until he arrived in the mystical land of Avalon.  
It was a real surprise for the master wizards of the academy, when, removing the straw from the cart, they found themselves in front of a shaky and malnourished boy. After hearing the story of the young man and discussing for a long time among themselves, the deans unanimously decided to take him under their protection, raising him and, since they were in a place of knowledge, teaching him the secrets of their ancestral magic arts.  
Years passed, and Hiram seemed to have overcome the trauma of his past, leading a quiet life as a promising magician apprentice ... until that fateful day.

-/-

Avalon wasn't so isolated from the rest of the world as many people believed, in fact, the wise enchanters of the place thought it was necessary to keep themselves informed as much as possible about the events beyond their lands. Ever After, with all its peculiar traditions, had been among the topics of greatest interest for centuries, especially after Raven Queen had refused her Destiny.  
The news of the dragonsports reopening, therefore, had immediately attracted the attention of the entire academy, including Hiram, who had few but vivid memories of those games.  
In the main hall, through a voluminous crystal ball, masters and students had witnessed, in live, the opening ceremony of the arena ... and the entrance of the Evil Queen. Needless to say, anxiety and anger immediately took possession of Hiram by seeing the woman who had ruined his childhood, but what completely broke the boy's self-control had been Snow White: leaving that crazy hag free ?! What was wrong with her?!  
In following the developments of the affair the situation didn't get better, not even when the Evil Queen had been locked again.  
He remembered how he had felt when he had saw the Fairest Of Them All putting the orphans in a corner, many years ago. He finally understood why he had wanted to escape: it was all a game for her and those like her. And who cared if anonymous characters like the Patchfields were going to suffer the consequences, no one would ever read about them.  
"Well," Hiram decided, "I'll make them read about us. I'm gonna write my story and those of all Ever After's commoners. With the ink I'll extract from the Royals' filthy corpses! "

-/-

A simple wizard apprentice, no matter how talented, could hardly hope to win against an entire kingdom.  
Kept in the deepest parts of the catacombs under the academy, the forbidden spells were known to exist only to the old masters and the most renowned students. Hiram, belonging to the second category, had already been able to conduct research, for purely theoretical purposes, on some of them. But his change of pace made the use of that knowledge mortally concrete.  
There was a ritual, through which Hiram could have converted his own grudge into mystical energy. The price to pay was to sacrifice the user's own Wonder, the very essence of a person's feelings and identity.  
Ripping away from his body everything he was, Hiram welcomed the green and poisonous mark of hatred on his now colorless skin.  
Too late, his mentors realized what was happening, being able only to watch helplessly as their pupil went away, determined to return to his childhood home with the worst intentions.

-/-

 **N.N. & B.P.:** …

 **M.N.:** G-get back to the present, ok…?

-/-

Hiram wasted no time and summoned two giant snakes, made entirely of green magical energy.  
The Charmings promptly rushed towards them, without imagining that it was exactly what their opponent wanted. In a flash, the snakes shrank, to the three brothers' disappointment, and then in a spell they grew larger again and wrapped around the princes. Darling, however, was quick enough to escape the coils and cutting off the head of the beast which had captured Dexter. Daring managed to free himself by dazzling the enemy with his smile.  
Hiram, meanwhile, had went towards his two former masters, summoning a third snake, larger than the previous ones. The monster slammed the two on a corner, knocking them out. The gray-skinned boy then turned to the Grimm brothers, who in the meantime were taking Snow White and Apple out of the office, with Courtly following them.  
The escape of the group was interrupted once reached the main hall, in the most shocking way: an humoungous crowd of peasants, millers, farriers, in short, commoners, blocked every possible escape way. Among them, Jackie Frost stood out with an excited expression. Behind them, Hiram's derisive voice announced his arrival: "I bet you didn't realize my ... associates had already entered in here."

-/-

The boy summoned a lot of little snakes, which surrounded the fugitives. Then, going towards it, he waved a hand to his army: "Look at them, Snow White. You obviously don't know them, but they know you. They praised your, served you faithfully, and in return they were ignored and manipulated. But now they have enough."  
The Fairest Of Them All scanned all those faces. Not one of them looked away, no one seemed to be ashamed of what they were doing. When she noticed a pair of his bodyguard-dwarves in the crowd, the queen could no longer hold herself back: "Pouty! How could you?! " she snapped, scandalized.  
"My name is Frank." the dwarf coldly replied.  
Apple, alongside to her mother, with greef in her heart, recognized that too many mistakes had been made. Milton wanted to say something, if only to gain back some credibility, but Giles covered his mouth with a hand, aware that the situation was already bad enough. Courtly, looking at the crowd, perfectly shared their feelings, but at the same time she felt something was definitely off.  
"Ever After High is the beating heart of the injustice that spreads through this entire country." Patchfield resumed, "Once we'll have done here, no one will dare put us down ever after again."  
"Get straight," the jokeress addressed him, wanting to understand "exactly what should you finish?" In response, Hiram gave her a small smile, coated with a hint of bitterness. Then he turned his gaze to the hallways, from which the Ever After High students were coming, armed as best they could.  
The three Charming brothers, who had clearly managed to slay even the last snake, led the crowd. Blondie Lockes, behind them, was recording everything with a Mirrorpad, probably to let the rest of the kingdom know what was happening. Faybelle had an intrigued expression, looking at Hiram, who quietly greeted the new arrivals: "We were waiting for you."  
Daring stepped forward boldly, chin out and declaring with a proud voice: "Give up right now, you scoundrel! You'll save yourself a loud humiliation, considering that none of your henchmen can hope to compete in a fight! Hexpecially against myself!"  
Patchfield narrowed his eyes, turning for a moment to his allies, who seemed quite offended by the prince's words.  
"As usual, you underestimate us." He then retorted; "That's what will put _The End_ to your stories."

* * *

 _ **Apologize for the long wait, once again. this time I really hoped to posting it earlier. Sigh.  
**_ _ **Expect the next chapter for Easter period or shortly after.  
**_ _ **Bye!**_

 _ **-Blitz**_


	5. Ep4 - Choose your own story

Aside from the several Princes of the many Charming clans, among its students Ever After High also included fairies, witches, hunters, teleporting cat-girls, bad wolves and many other characters possessing legendary skills which could have grant them an easy victory in battle, especially against ordinary people. But Hiram's allies, despite not having any fable-ous power, were no pushovers: they were people who got their hands dirty from morning to evening, accustomed to working hard since early age. A lifestyle that obviously had reinforced their bodies. Also considering that they were more numerous than the students, and that on the side of Hiram there were many more adults than on the other, both sides looked perfectly on equal terms.  
 _Looked_ was the key word.

-/-

Hostilities began immediately after Hiram's last statement.  
Daring had tried to shout something like "Charge!", but his companions, who had already understood perfectly how things were going, had surpassed him without even giving him time to do the heroic pose. Hiding his embarrassment, the young paladin had hurried to join his brothers at the head of the group.

-/-

A substantial difference came to light quite quickly: Patchfield's rioters formed a united, compact and perfectly synchronized front. No one of them remained completely alone against an opponent, and every enemy move was neutralized with remarkable team play; a very useful strategy especially if it was against one of the many Prince Charmings.  
On the other hand, the improvised army of Ever After High couldn't show the same cohesion, due to the furious quarrels that in recent days had divided the students. Either for the stress, or because for being near someone they didn't get along with, the students were uncoordinated and not very concentrated. Hiram had always known that Raven's disappearance would have shaken the school, but it turned out to be more effective and useful than expected!  
The young magician saw with pleasure his allies take the upper hand on numerous fronts. Only a few among the students, were able to resist without efforts: people like Kitty Cheshire, who, by disappearing and reappearing from one side of the hall to another, was actually a problem: in the long run would have worn out and exhausted the poor people who were trying to catch her; or like Cerise Hood, whose secret for some reason still hadn't been discovered, although it did very little to hide it, moreover now that she was fighting side by side with Ramona Badwolf, with the same beastly enthusiasm. And still, nobody had managed to put two and two together.  
Hiram shook his head, bringing his attention to the three Charming brothers who were in front of him.

-/-

"Do you really believe that you will get a Happily Ever After from all this?" Darling shouted. Hiram's eyes lit up green as he hissed furiously: "Do you think you can lecture me? That you can say me that you know how I feel because you too had to fight against social conventions? Yeah, think again."  
The princess raised an eyebrow, noting how the opponent predicted exactly what she was going to do.  
"Your _Girl Power_ -style story is the most irritating and already seen tale I've ever read. Like every other crown-head here you have never had a real problem in your whole life. Even when you wanted to become a knight rather than a princess, you had it easily. Am I right, Dexter?"  
Hearing his name, the bespectacled prince nervously stiffened his grip on his sword.  
Hiram continued: "You know it, don't you? That it was your mother who gave your sister sword, armor and everything, obviously in secret. It wasn't enough that you father has eyes only for Daring, huh? What's left for you, Dex? Who's left?"  
"You scum!" Daring exclaimed, throwing himself at Hiram,"I see what you're up to! You will not put us against each o..." before he could lower his blade on the enemy, the young prince was blocked by the magic snakes that covered the floor. Patchfield's constructs wrapped around Daring's arms and legs, so that he could no longer hold up his sword. Hiram at that point, without hesitation, fired a lightning magic with a single finger, throwing the blond prince to the other side of the room.  
"Daring!" Darling screamed, shocked. Without thinking, she also hurled himself on Hiram, but he had already foreseen everything and was ready to launch a second lightning on the girl, who, distracted by her agitation, took the strike fully and flight away like her brother.  
"I can't believe that I admired you once." The young wizard commented, and then turned to Dexter: "You, on the other hand, look like a nice guy. Would you have some spine to do... anything, really, we could even become friends. But anyway..." before the brown-haired prince could reply, the magic snakes wrapped him, making him unable to do anything.  
Hiram moved away, determined to take care of the Cheshire kitten and the bad wolves. While looking for his targets, however, an irritating fluttering figure obstructed his view.  
"Hey there! I'm Faybelle, Faybelle Thorn. I'm an aspiring villain, and you really seem to know how to do it, I wondered if you were interested in assuming..." annoyed, Hiram didn't even let her finish, throwing her away with a greenish fireball. "Authorized villains?" Snarled, "Another fault they will have to pay for." Finally found the daughter of the Cheshire Cat, Hiram prepared himself to unleash his powers on her, only to be paralyzed by someone else's magic.  
Magic with golden reflections.

-/-

"Really, you two never learn!" Patchfield growled, annoyed, turning his head towards his former mentors.  
While dealing with the Charmings and the fairy pipsqueak, he hadn't noticed when those old geezers had arrived on the battlefield.  
"Nothing irreparable has happened yet!" One of the two elders said, "You're still in time to interrupt all of this!" The other concluded. Hiram stared at them with hatred: "To renounce now would be the worst humiliation that I could igive to my allies, and they have already had to endure too many."  
"But it's also for them that you have to stop!"  
"You think you're doing their good but in fact you're only dooming them to ... "  
"Yadda yadda yadda." Was the hostile, snarling interruption of the boy. "Always the same old song." The hatred magic spread from Hiram's body "Every time." The golden glow of the Avalon deans, who kept their degenerate pupil locked, was gradually becoming green. "If you don't want to understand ..." Hiram was now entirely enveloped in his green energy. He just moved one arm, and the two elders recognized their failure. "Then SHUT UP!" Was the lad's stern warcry, accompanied by a shockwave that overwhelmed the elder magicians and finally broke their paralyzing spell.  
Once again on the loose, Hiram set out to locate again Kitty, or even the two wolf sisters, but once again, almost like in a loop, someone obstructed his path and vision.  
Seeing the pale face of Apple White in person, Hiram was a step away from going postal, but something, in the tone with which the princess uttered that one word ... "Wait!" ... made him feel, for the first time since he had undertaken his vindictive journey, a hint of hesitation.  
A trembling "What do you want ...?" was the only sentence he could give in response.

-/-

In the midst of the furious melee, time seemed to stand still for the princess and the revolting wizard.  
Apple resisted to the impulse of run away, taking a couple of steps towards Hiram, who wasn't even trying to dampen the hatred in his eyes.  
The princess swallowed, determined to go all the way. It was a desperate attempt, but it was her duty to try to find a peaceful solution, before ...  
"Whatever you want to tell me, White, it's too tar ..."  
"Sorry."  
Hiram was stunned: "... come again?"  
"I'm sorry... For everything you had to go through. For all the injustice that brought suffering to the people. For not being aware of that before, despite the intelligence I'm so proud of."  
"Is this a joke or what?" The boy replied, "Do you think a simple _sorry_ will solve it?! Are you really so arrogant to think that a bunch of empty words are enough to stop me?!"  
Apple winced but didn't give up. "They aren't just words. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to improve the situation, yours and that of anyone who'll need it."  
Hiram too didn't seem willing to give up, though:" You promised something similar to Raven, if I remember correctly ... of course, _before releasing the Evil Queen_." At those words, the princess felt as if she had been punched in the belly, but once again she collected all her willforce and continued to keep the eye contect with her interlocutor: "I know very well which and how many errors I have committed in my ignorance. And unlike my mother, I'll have you know that I'm not going to deny them or hide them anymore. I'm going to make up for them, even if I'll have to spend all my life trying it. But right now you must stop this madness, or we'll come to regret it, all of us. I implore you, trust me."  
Hiram Patchfield seemed to have been impressed by Apple White's declarations. The hesitation, which he had already slightly felt a moment before, had resurfaced, much more poignant. He looked around, observing the various clashes still raging in the hall, and then lowered his head, mulling over the words of Apple.  
Suddenly, however, he looked up again: _And unlike my mother..._ continued to resonate in the young man's head, his eyes once again hostile, and illuminated with green.  
"No." He growled tightly, looking up at a point behind Apple. A whirlwind of green magic enveloped him in a blink of an eye and Apple, recognized the teleportation spell, just had time to grab Hiram's wrist before disappearing.

-/-

"Doesn't look good." Courtly commented, witnessing the disappearance of Hiram and Apple. "To say that for a moment I really hoped that everything would've been concluded that quickly!"  
"Well it didn't!" An imperious voice bursted out behind her. The jolly girl snorted, turning her gaze to Lizzie Hearts, who continued: "And be sure that you will not get away scott free! Maddie told me that the Narrators told her what part you had in our invader's plans! As if you hadn't already ... "  
"You'll have plenty of time to scream at me when, or if, we'll come out alive from all this chaos, which, I want to clarify, I tried to prevent! Too bad that Mr. Grey-skin was crazy prepared enough to have a plan B!"  
"We'll have plenty of time for arguing too, later!" Alistair Wonderland intervened, not far away from the two girls, escaping from a couple of angry peasants. The three friends tried to get away from the melee, but a polar bear came out without warning and barred their way.  
"You shouldn't have chickened out at the last moment!" The animal said to Courtly, who recognized Jackie Frost's voice. "Sucks for you, better for me!" Before Jackie could jump on top of the three wonderlandians, Kitty appeared out of nowhere and, taking her friends with her, disappeared a moment later. The four reappeared just outside the door of the school, where Maddie was waiting for them, strangely enthusiastic: "Guys, maybe-maybe, things can still be un-uglified!"

-/-

 **N.N .:** Hey, Maddie looks happy again, and that gives me hope! ...

 **B.P .:** True, but whatever she's talking about, we'll see it later. I found out where Snow White is, and, well ...

-/-

"So all I have to do is to pull this against the mirror?" Snow White asked, staring at the magic apple in her hands. In response, from her prison, the Evil Queen smiled wickedly.  
The Fairest of Them All tried to hold back a grimace. She had already left her nemesis free once and it hadn't turned out to be a good idea. But that crazy gray-skinned brat who appeared out of nowhere, in just one day had stepped over any possible defense and seemed set on erasing the entire school by the next dawn. The Headmasters, as usual, were two incompetents, and therefore it was up to her, Snow White, to step in. And without other reinforcements, the only solution against an unstable sorcerer seemed to be an equally unstable enchantress.  
And certainly more powerful.  
A huge risk, in any case. But the ebony-haired monarch decided to take it, promising to herself to be ready for when, after the clash, the Evil Queen would've been vulnerable enough to be re-mirrored.  
Hey, maybe luck would have been on her sid and those two spellcasting freaks would have neutralized each other.  
Flexing back the hand which held the apple, Snow White got ready to launch it.

-/-

Still in Snow White's fingers, the apple dissolved into a greenish smoke. Confused, the woman looked in the direction of the Evil Queen, who, equally surprised, was staring at a precise spot behind Snow White. The latter, turning there, saw with horror none other than Hiram Patchfield, wrapped in a flaming green aura, struggling violently from the grip of Apple, which eventually also lost her balance.  
The boy ferociously walked towards Snow White: "I can still look through the mirrors, genius! You... You were going to free that monster!" he roared, pointing to the mirror.  
The Evil Queen, after her initial surprise, didn't look very impressed. "This kid really gave you so much trouble?" she chuckled "Oh, you really lost your touch, heroes!"  
Hiram, hearing the teasing tone of the one who had taken away his family, lost control. His magical aura, in response to the increase in his fury, blazed further, completely illuminating the little room and making it tremble. The toxic energy, overflowing even from the eyes, and his voice had taken a roaring echo: "You think it's all a game, huh?! Well, let's see if you find THIS funny!"  
Snow White, totally in panic, rummaged in the pockets of her skirt, hoping to find in time the...  
"Looking for this?" Hiram asked mockingly, showing her the new Booking Glass that Snow White had made build after the destruction of the original one.  
"H-how ... ?!"  
"I can read anyone's story, just by looking at them. And if some magical artifact appears in it, I can call it to me. The magic of hatred is really useful ... ah, I almost forgot: _acquire Snow White._ " Hiram concluded, looking pleased at the beam of light that, from the portable mirror, immediately struck the ebony-haired queen.  
Apple saw with horror her mother reappear inside the mirror-prison, right next to the Evil Queen. The latter, already much more nervous than before, observed Hiram resuming the word: "Now, we were saying ... oh, yeah: something really funny. To me." Reciting a spell, made even more disturbing by the supernatural echo of his voice, the boy threw a green flash that hit the flat and crystalline surface.  
Inside the mirror world, the Queen and Snow White noticed that everything around them, trembling, was slowly disappearing.  
"What are you doing ?!" shouted Apple, in despair.  
"Oh, not too much." Hiram replied, indifferent "I'm just absorbing every trace of magic in this thing. Essentially, it will become a very normal mirror. Everything ... and everyone ... inside it will disappear, as if they never existed ...!" Apple's eyes widened, shocked. The two imprisoned women tried in vain to get away from the advancing nothingness.  
The blonde princess, desperate, threw herself on the young magician and tried, tugging, to interrupt his work: "Stop!" Was all he could scream.  
"Get off!" Hiram replied, pushing her away "That's what they deserve!"  
"Not like this, Hiram."  
A new voice said, familiar to Hiram, Apple and the women in the mirror. Turning around, they saw someone who they would've never imagined seeing there again.  
"Raven!" They exclaimed.

-/-

 **B.P.:** I can't believe it! She is back!

 **N.N.:** I bet that was why Maddie was so happy!

 **B.P.:** I think so too, but let's try to look back a little...

-/-

Raven had decided: she would have came back.  
Quickly notified it to her father, through their ogre-butler Ooglot, the girl had headed to the well from which she had arrived at Cook's village. The rest of her stuff would've been delivered by the staff of Queen Castle, like it had already happened when she had escaped, with the difference that this time, Nevermore would've returned with her.  
Of course she knew that things would've not been back to normal neither easily nor soon, but that didn't intimidate her. She had never felt so sure of herself before.  
Sure as she was, however, she had remained baffled in hearing the sounds of battle inside Ever After High. Undoubtedly something had happened during her absence! Raven cursed herself for not keeping herself informed about the outside world during the weeks spent in the village: the fear of being discovered had definitely confused her!  
Leaving aside her regrets, Raven with Nevermore had approached to the great door of the school and just then Maddie had appeared, teleported there by Kitty, who had disappeared right after. After a brief but intense hug between the two friends, Maddie had hastily told her everything that had happened. Raven, despite lacking a precise plan, knew she had to do something: right before running into the school and joining the dances, however, the young Queen had felt some disturbing magical vibes, coming, she realized, from where the mirror-prison was located.  
Fearing the worst, Raven hadn't hesitated to teleport herself into the tower.

-/-

"You've changed a bit since we met on that bridge." Raven murmured, trying not to make any sudden movements.  
Hiram, however, didn't seem on the verge of exploding like a moment before: more than anything else he was astonished. "What are you doing here?!" he hissed.  
"Let's say that running away from problems it's not my thing." Raven answered resolutely.  
"What are you babbling about ?! I thought you had understood, after our talk ...!" Hiram was completely bewildered. The green magic around him had faded, his voice no longer echoing, and the spell he was casting on the mirror had been aborted.  
The Evil Queen and Snow White, were silently watching the developments.  
Raven took a step forward: "So, in a sense, my escape really had something to do with all of this."  
Hiram was visibly shaking: "I wanted you to get away from all this. I can recognize when someone feels oppressed. "  
"Thank you." Raven smiled a little, still walking slowly towards the boy, "And even if things didn't go exactly as you hoped, our conversation still made me think. This moose won't leave the animals at the mercy of the hunters, but it doesn't mean that it will still allow them to occupy its horns." Apple, the Evil Queen and Snow White watched Raven without comprehending what she had said. Only Patchfield seemed to understand, but that didn't make him look more serene: "You know you're giving them another chance to hurt you, do you? Do you really want to forgive them again?! Why do you always have to feel so guilty about your choices? What do you think you owe to these people?!" he concluded, glancing hostilely at the two prisoners in the mirror and at Apple.  
Raven shook her head, now a few inches from the magician: "It's not something I owe to the others: I owe it to me."  
Hiram chuckled, bitterly: "What now, are you going to tell me something like if you kill them you'll be like them?"  
"It's not something I say. It's a fact." The young Rebel retorted, while handing to hiram a letter. "This is from my mother." Raven said, ignoring the Evil Queen, who, on seeing the message, had went agitated and was urging her daughter to stop. "It helped me to put the last pieces of the puzzle together. Who knows, it may be useful to you too. "

-/-

 _My dearest Raven_

 _If you are reading this, then you have finally embraced your powers. For years, the spell of this mirror prison prevented me from speaking the truth. However, now you will be able to truly understand my side._

 _Back when I was at Ever After High, everyone followed the whole "Follow your Destiny" nonsense. What's the line they always say? "There are no short stories or tall tales." But when you're a villain, people hate and fear you. So I stole the Storybook of Legends - the artifact that magically bound us to our destinies - and replaced it with a magical replica that had none of its true power. I wasn't going to just accept that I must live out the rest of my days alone and reviled._

 _But then something unexpected happened. I fell in love with Good King, and eventually you, my baby girl, came into my life. When I looked into your eyes, it was like my heart was looking back at me. I didn't need a magic mirror to tell me you were the fairest. However, not everyone saw you like that. People ran in fear, scared of who you would become. I would not stand idly by while my beautiful daughter was destined to be subject of their ignorance. So I vowed to do something about it. I was going to reshape the fairytale world in my image ... in our image. They would have no choice but to loveme us._

 _That's why I always pushed you to be evil. And we are only a few steps away. Continue down the path, trust your dark instincts and let's rule this world as mother and daughter. Know that I love you with all the malice in my heart,_

 _Your mother,_

 _The Evil Queen_

-/-

"My mother," Raven explained, after Hiram had finished reading "began her conquest out of love. She had the best intentions, I have no doubts." The girl's gaze met her mother's shocked one. "But the more she got used to being a vengeful fury, the more she forgot about her motivations. Had it been the countrary, then she would have explained everything to me months ago, when she was out of the mirror."  
Hiram remained silent, waiting for Raven to resume; "And it's happening to you too. You're doing all of this for your family. But hatred literally makes your powers grow, the more you allow it, the more you move away from yourself. Eventually you will be reduced to an empty shell, which seeks destruction because he has nothing else left. I know, I studied this kind of magic. Anyway ... you hate my mother, but you do NOT hate me just because I'm her daughter. It's not a trivial thing: if you can still make these distinctions, you're still in time to stop."  
Hiram was visibly torn: Raven Queen was much more convincing than Apple White or his masters, and this because their suffering had very close roots. Patchfield had no doubts, Raven was one of the few who could understand him.  
But looking back at the mirror-prison, he felt the hatred flare up again within himself.  
"You have every right to be angry." Raven said, enphasizing every word, "But if you now go further, it will be a victory for your enemies."  
After that last sentence, the silence fell into the room.  
A few seconds passed, but it seemed centuries.  
Apple White realized that she was holding her breath only when, seeing Hiram lowering his head in surrender, she sighed for relief.  
Instead, Raven smiled, observing how the green magic was evaporating away from Hiram's body, which was returning to its natural colors instead of that horrible greyish tone.

-/-

What followed happened so quickly that some people thought it had been all a dream.  
First, Hiram, through Booking Glass, had freed Snow White from prisony. Went back on the ground floor with Raven and Apple, he had called his acolytes, announcing the retreat.  
Faced with general amazement (even the enemy front had stopped, shocked by the news), Hiram had sadly declared that he had done everything wrong and that it was necessary to start over. Contrary to what he had feared, his following didn't argue too much; maybe just Jackie Frost would have wanted to protest, but she had desisted, after noticing that no one else was going to fight anymore.  
Hiram then had approached his two former mentors, determined to ask for forgiveness, but the two elders had just nodded, saying much more than they could have with words.  
Milton Grimm and Snow White, who had just arrived from the tower, had tried to oppose to the decision of letting go the invaders as if it wasn't a big deal, but Apple had been quick to declare that, for that time, it was fine. Not exactly the official technical terms, of course, but the solemnity with which she had spoken took away any doubt from anyone.  
Noting that the way was clear, Patchfield told his companions to go. Passing near Apple and Raven, he stopped.  
"We'll meet again. And I will do my best to not be enemies." He said, turning to Apple, who nodded. The boy then turned to Raven: "Never forget how strong you have been today."  
"I won't. Trust me." the young witch replied.  
Satisfied, Hiram Patchfield set out to join his allies, now out of school.

-/-

 **F.N.:** Happy ending! Now you should be satisfied!

 **B.P.:** Mom, dad! Where did you go?

 **M.N.:** We were with Maddie: poor thing needed company. How do you think she knew everything she told to Lizzie and Raven?

 **N.N.:** Isn't it against the rules?

 **F.N.:** Does someone still cares about it?

 **M.N.:** Anyway, you didn't have any problem in narrating this story, we felt a bit useless. We had to keep ourselves busy!

 **N.N .:** Anyway it's not quite The End-The End. Stopping here would be too abrupted.

 **B.P.:** Right! This chapter is the grand finale, more or less, it's fair for it to be a bit longer! Moving on!

-/-

While the wounded were medicated and the spellcasters freed from the magic ice, a feeling of complete disorientation enveloped the whole school.  
In the middle of that confusion, Raven Queen found herself to think that she had missed a lot. She gave a glance at Apple White, who had walked away to check the damages, wondering what she should have do or say. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Raven turned to see Courtly Jester.  
"For what it's worth," the jolly girl murmured insecure. "Snow White wanted to convince Apple to help her find you, but she refused." The young Queen widened her eyes in surprise, returning to look at the blonde. It was a noble gesture, which had meant a great effort, knowing Apple ... and her mother. Shaking her head and thanking Courtly, Raven made her way toward the princess.  
She made in time to call her by name before being interrupted by an irritably familiar voice.

-/-

"Miss Queen!" Headmaster Milton Grimm, with the usual pompous look, stood right in front of her, visibly altered. "Since you refused your Destiny, you have been a constant problem. And today, you've crossed the line: your escape has thrown us into agitation and left us unprepared to..."  
"Don't you dare." Raven practically snarled to stop the man "If Hiram managed to convince so many people to go against you, I'm certainly not the one who has to being lectured. If you want to punish me for escaping from school, that's fine, I'll take it. But I no longer intend to take the blame for everything that goes wrong around here."  
The Headmaster was trembling in rage, but he didn't know how to retort. Snow White thought to replace him: "And who says you didn't have a part in the plans of that nutso? Like the jester one? Who says that this truce isn't just another..."  
"Mom, stop it." It was Apple, this time, to interrupt by snarling. "Raven ran away and the civilians attacked because of us. Why is it so hard to admit it? " She concluded, asking that even to herself.  
Under the astonished gaze of the crowds all around, Milton Grimm and Snow White stared with indignity at Raven Queen and Apple White, who sternfully looked back. They stayed like that for a few minutes, until ...  
"May I interrupt you?" Asked a deep voice, unknown to everyone except to Milton and Snow. The Headmaster went pale and the queen froze herself in terror. Everyone turned to the voice and saw a big man with large shoulders and chest, combed back white hair, a thick spikey goatee and an aquiline nose. He wore a bright red jacket, very similar to that of the Grimm brothers, and his stare seemed anything but friendly.  
Milton, still in panic, found the strength to speak, albeit in a choked voice: "S ... su ... Superintendent Perrault!"  
That surname made everyone gasp.

-/-

Gavin Perrault was an elusive figure, at Ever After High, kind of an oral legend passed from one generation of students to another.  
Eyewitnesses had stated that, in the rare cases in which he had showed himself, it had never been to give good news, and that his word was enough to decide not only the fate of the entire staff of the school, but also the one of any monarch in Ever After...

-/-

"...wha-what a surprise!" Milton stammered, watching Perrault dangerously advancing towards him "W-we haven't been informed of your arrival..."  
"Curious." Was the Superintendent's severe answer, "Because I'm sure they sent you a notification about it."  
On the sidelines, Giles Grimm slapped his forehead, remembering when, in the office, was tearing up sheets of paper out of frustration. Before he could explain, Gavin returned to talk: "Anyway, the Archive lost their patience. These last two years have been a continuous disaster, despite your several assurances about you being able to fix everything. The events of the last period were the last straw, even though I personally would have intervened when the Evil Queen was... _forgiven._ " In saying the last word, his grim look shifted from Milton to Snow White, who winced.  
"Anyway," resumed the Superintendent, moving away a little, much to the relief of Headmaster and queen, "the news of a student escaping, added to all the prior events, was too much to keep watching without intervention. I would have arrived here earlier, had it not been for many suspicious activities reported to me throughout all the kingdom. Plus, just as I was heading here, they linked me... this." Perrault pulled out his Mirrorpad, open on Blondie Lockes' channel, on which she had streamed the battle.  
Neither Milton nor Snow White had the courage to open their mouths. Giles shook his head, resigned but not at all amazed by the turn of events. Raven would have liked to point out that she had came back, but she suspected that she wouldn't ahve helped very much in that precise moment.  
Perrault spoke again, this time addressing the entirety of the crowd: "Due to what happened in the last period, it is clear more than ever that there are serious problems that need to be resolved as sson as possible. Therefore I will support the Ever After High staff in conducting investigations aimed at this end. Until then, I'm sorry to inform you that the current school year will be extended. Again. That's all." Someone muttered some complaint.  
Perrault called the Headmasters and the teachers for a first general assembly.  
As they walked into the office, the Superintendent noticed Giles and remembered a small detail: "Weren't you disappeared?"

-/-

In the late evening, peace and silence finally fell on Ever After High.  
It wouldn't have lasted for long, of course: surely Perrault's investigation would've began right the following morning. For the moment, however, after over two weeks of tension, the dust was settled.  
Two well-known princesses were intentioned, leaning against a balcony of the school, to enjoy that seraphic interlude. But not before having clarified how things were between them.  
"I'm sorry." Apple and Raven said in unison.  
"I should have said no to my mother when she phoned me back." Apple admitted.  
"Well, I should have stayed and talked that day, as you said." Raven answered.  
Both sighed.  
"Well, we can talk now. I know very well that things between us won't fix themselves in a spell, but I don't want to ignore the issues anymore." The blonde declared, grabbing the witch's shoulders. "No lies, no secrets. We tell each other everything, doubts, fears, suspicions, motivations, everything. Deal?" Raven smiled, taking Apple's hands in hers. "Deal." She answered, determined.  
No matter how long it would have took, they were both sure they would have solve it.  
With all the complications they had and they would have had in the future, their friendship was something they didn't want to lose.

* * *

 _ **And it's over, people! Kinda. I hope you enjoyed it.**_

 _ **It was more difficult than expected to write this fic, especially because I was dead set since the start in concluding it in 4 chapters, just to imitate EAH miniseries on Netflix.**_

 _ **Oh well.**_

 _ **In the next few days I should publish a short epilogue to complete everything, but even without it, this story can be considered concluded.**_

 _ **Thanks for the attention,**_

 _ **-Blitz**_


	6. Epilogue

**N.N.:** Here we are. Now it's really The End!

 **B.P.:** For now, at least. There were many unanswered questions before, but now... they're even more!

 **N.N.:** True, this was only the beginning!

 **F.N.:** Well, be that as it may, I must admit that you two have done a much better work than I could've thought!

 **M.N.:** Your mother is right, Brooke! We are very proud of you! Oh, obviously you deserve many credits too, uh ... Hey, come to think of it! We still don't know your name!

 **N.N.:** My bad, I've thrown myself into the tale without thinking about good manners... anyway, the name's Reed, sir. Reed Wright.

 **B.P.:** Well, Reed, we've come this far, I hope you won't refuse to narrate the next adventures with me!

 **R.W.:** Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Though it would be better to make it know back at school ...

 **F.N.:** So it's true that you weren't authorized!

 **M.N.:** Well, honey, as you said before: _does anyone still care?_

 **F.N.:** Our principals, for instance! However don't worry, Reed, we'll talk to your teachers. You have done a good job and no one can deny it: we'll make everything official by turning it into an effective internship.

 **R.W.:** Thank you very much, I'll be careful not to cause other messes.

 **M.N.:** If that is settled, I would recommend going back to the narration, there are still a couple of scenes.

 **B.P.:** Oooh, it's true!

-/-

For the very first time, Milton didn't told her to touch the mirror. Not because he had understood it wasn't necessary: more because the superintendent's ominous presence was something that absorbed all of his attention.  
Raven shook her head as she entered the room and headed toward the mirror. She was going to make it quick.  
In response to her greeting, her mother immediately appeared inside her prison. "Birdie!" the woman said, perkily "You know, after the last time I saw you, I had the silly suspicion that you didn't want to talk to me anymore! Ah ah, but it was only for a very short time, I assure you, and, as it was obvious, here you are!"  
Raven wanted to retort somehow, but she preferred to let her mother finish first: "I should've immediately understood that it was all a stunt to convince that amateur to step aside! It was preposterous that you could be mad at me for real! Too bad that your strategy has forced you to go back to this stupid school ... Well, worry not, dear, I'll teach you to..."  
"You always understand only what you want, do you?" Raven finally interrupted her, coldly. "Well, you know what? What I said to Hiram I meant it. Every word."  
Her daughter's resolute look made the Evil Queen taking a more serious tone: "I was hoping that that letter would've make you understand."  
"It did, only not in the way you expected. You and I are much more different than you want to accept."  
At Raven's words, her mother began to look at her severely, and then commented: "We'll see about that."  
"No, we won't." The girl answered, while keeping the same, adamant tone: "I came here to greet you one last time before they transfer the mirror."  
"W-what?!"  
"Superintendent Perrault has decided that a school is not the right place for ... well, _you_. I guess they'll move you to some high security place or something. In any case, we won't see each other again any time soon."  
The Evil Queen was speechless and wide-eyed. It was at that moment that Perrault entered the room. "Miss Queen? We really have to go now."  
"Okay. Goodbye, mother." Raven said, with an indecipherable expression, while hurrying to the exit.  
The woman in the mirror stared at the Superintendent with hatred, but he was anything but impressed: "You asked for it and you know it."  
Leaving the Headmasters' office, Raven found Apple waiting for her. The blond princess didn't hesitate to hug her, and the witch was very happy to reciprocate.  
"How do you feel?" Apple asked.  
"Weird." Raven answered "I'll never be able to hate her, despite everything, but at the same time, I feel that being away from her for a while is the best thing."  
"I know how it feels, trust me. Let's go back in our room, you need some rest."  
With an arm around each other's shoulders, the two friends walked away in the hall.

-/-

The small golden sparks briefly danced on his palm before turning off.  
Hiram sighed: after having used too much the magic of hatred, it would have took a while before he could've regained full control of his true powers. He was fine with that, but he still hoped he could get back in shape as soon as possible: he had the feeling that he would've needed it in the close future. Looking out of the window of his lodging, Hiram took a quick look at the rest of the camp: they had found a great hiding place under a mountain on the edge of the kingdom. Above all, they had done a great job in getting there without being founded and without losing anyone during the travel.  
Except for Jackie Frost.  
Once they had surpassed Book End's territories, during a break she had left the group with an excuse and had never returned.  
Hiram couldn't be sure, but he suspected that the girl didn't have good intentions: she was literally the only one who didn't like the stop of hostilities against Ever After High. Probably, besides, she had never really cared of Hiram's plans, and she had just taken advantage of his offer only to escape from prison. Another stupid decision to regret, the boy thought, moving away from the window.  
For the time being, in any case, all he and the others could've do was wait and decide how to behave in the future. They had abandoned the violent methods, of course, but Hiram and his group had come together to fight Ever After's injustice, and they wouldn't have renounced to it. Since Apple White had promised to take care of it, maybe an alliance with her and other Royals willing to cooperate wasn't such a bad idea, at least on paper.  
Hiram realized he was still tense, so he decided to read something to relax a bit. Rummaging in a duffel near his bed, he pulled out some of the fairytale books he had gathered around the world when he was doing some research for the Avalon academy.  
One in particular caught his attention, and, while taking it in his hand, made him smile.

 _Thidwick The Big-Hearted Moose - by Dr. Seuss_

* * *

 _ **... and as they say, "The End is only the Beginning"!**_

 _ **See you next time!**_

 _ **... and I hope it won't take too much...!**_

 _ **-Blitz**_


End file.
